Posts in the ‘Handmade’ Category

It happens just twice a year and it’s a brilliant way to find other creative blogs, ideas, and shops. Popping up on the internet from all over the world are giveaways of handmade goods and sewing & craft supplies. Now’s the perfect time to enter for the possibility to win something wonderful, discover your next project, or even find a new favorite fabric or blogger: find them all here and here.

Use the Rafflecopter below to enter, it’s easy and there are several ways to add your name to the hat! Giveaway ends Friday, December 12th at midnight EST and the winner will be randomly selected and announced here the following day. This giveaway is open to US and International entrants alike.

Our newest embroidery pattern is up in the shop as a pattern or complete kit! Featuring 1 Corinthians 13:7-8, this embroidery is the perfect gift for weddings and anniversaries. And, really, it’s good for all of us – a beautiful reminder that love never ends.

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things. Love never ends…”

And today is the third anniversary of launching Clementine Patterns! It’s been a wonderful three years of designing, cutting, stitching, wrapping, folding, assembling, packaging, and shipping off orders to so many wonderful customers! So to celebrate: Use coupon code HAPPYSHIP at checkout for free shipping on all domestic orders through November 10th!

This embroidery features a flourishing homestead full of life, centered around Proverbs 24:3-4:

“By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”

This pattern was delightful to embroider and is a beautiful reminder of the joy of living in the way of the Lord. The stitches used include straight, back, stem, seed, lazy-daisy, and French knot. The finished work fits perfectly in an 11″ x 14″ frame. (Makes for a wonderful addition to the home or a wedding or housewarming gift!)

Mum and I are embroidering the samples of our newest pattern for Clementine. It makes for delightful work and soon we’ll be able to share the new pattern and kits with you! But, until then here’s a little sneak peek of the new design in redwork (there will also be one in full color).

There are many wonderful ways to record the blessings in our lives. We get to take note, remember, study, and proclaim the works of the Lord and share them with those around us and future generations.

One way we have enjoyed writing down and displaying reminders of God’s mercies toward us has been through “The Thankful Tree.” A vase of branches becomes home to a record of many of the blessings we are thankful for. We’ve used pretty paper for the “leaves,” and even wooden chalk tags.

We still have last year’s “Thankful Tree” set up in our kitchen, ready for another Thanksgiving.

Great joy comes with working together as a family. With businesses born and run in our home, we’ve learned what a blessing it can be to manage cottage industries.

Each part of the family contributes a different skill, giving the rest of us even more appreciation for the various talents God gives people. We’re all working alongside each other towards the same goal, growing in our relationships with one another and in our walks with the Lord. We love it! Whether it’s illustrating a new art print, or writing a note to be shipped off with an embroidery kit, we take pleasure in the work God has given us.

Although it wasn’t necessarily a dream of ours to own businesses, we are thankful that the Lord has directed our steps and laid in our laps many projects and opportunities over the past few years.

We’re certainly not business experts, but a lot has been learned along the way (more than we ever imagined!). There is much, much more to learn and we always find it a great opportunity when we can gain wisdom from wise and experienced entrepreneurs.

We’ve listened to the audio from a couple previous Family Economics Conferences, which has been a source of encouragement as we work together as a family and, Lord willing, grow our businesses.

This May, in St. Louis, Missouri, you can spend four days learning about economics, meeting and enjoying fellowship with other families, soaking up sound biblical wisdom, being encouraged in family discipleship – the list could go on and on!

The past couple months have been filled with a great many things! New patterns are in the works for Clementine, wonderful books are being read, coffee is being brewed (and heartily drank), memories are being made, and hearts are filled with gratefulness. (What a wonderful God we serve!)

One of the projects (details still under wraps) involves a good deal of this:

Breezy (left) illustrating and yours truly (right) scanning and editing illustrations. It is such a joy to be able to work alongside my sister. Not only do we share a home studio, but our interests and talents compliment one another, going hand-in-hand.

How wonderfully true this is:

“There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from Him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?” —Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

To top it all off, we all – even our dog Bently – are enjoying every ounce of sunshine the Lord sends.